GREEN MINUTE NEWS:
HMT’s toxic anti-environment deals for Yash starrer “Toxic” turns highly toxic in Bengaluru.
In the wake of illegal felling of hundreds of trees at HMT Estate in Peenya-Jalahalli Plantation, Survey No: 1 & 2 area, Forest & Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre has directed action against concerned officials and other staff for allowing a forest area for shooting a Kannada movie Toxic.
The felling of hundreds of trees was done in a verdant forest land which was once given to the PSU company Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) by way of grant through donation.
In a statement released to the media, Eshwar Khandre has stated that unauthorized activities have been going on in 599 acres of forest land that was granted to HMT in 1960s for their varied activities. Based only in 2-3 acres, they were still in possession of 599 acres of forest land and had in fact, been selling/leasing it for commercial & real estate activities.
The PSU’s illegal activities should be investigated so as to protect the nature of the land, the Minister stressed. Further, Khandre cited the Supreme Court order which clearly says, “Once a forest is always a forest unless denotified.”
Activists expressed their serious concern on the ongoing controversy about illegal activities in the forest lands of HMT estate, north Bengaluru.
They said, “It is shocking how a movie set was blatantly created for filming in a forest land and also illegally felling hundreds of trees sans any permission, care or concern. Karnataka state has become lawless with regard to protection of forest lands with PSU’s continuing to violate all laws be it HMT or KIOCL.”
The KIOCL company (even after its closure in 2005) had leased three acres of forest land in Kudremukh for building a health resort by the Alva group. However, the High Court directed the state forest department to take the necessary action and free the forest land from the clutches of the PSU.
Activists adds, “Now the same thing is being repeated in HMT which has in its possession 599 acres of forest land and have been leasing and selling this land for carrying out all types of building and commercial activities. Many big apartments, shopping complexes like Prestige Wellington Park, etc have come up in HMT Estate.”
Way back in the 19th century, this land was declared as a reserved forest by the then Mysore rulers. So, about 599 acres of land became reserved forest in May 1896 and 1901. This can be found in the gazette notification. However, the land was handed over to HMT in 1960s without any formal denotification of the forest land.
As per all existing forest laws and SC orders, the area technically still remains a forest and should be handed back to the state forest department.
EXTENT OF DEFORESTATION
Forest Minister Khandre’s letter says HMT has been renting the forest land for commercial activities including film shootings and other purposes.
The satellite images (which was released to the media), he said, clearly shows the extent of deforestation and one can clearly verify if any permissions were granted for felling. Investigation is needed at this stage to verify if trees were cut without clearance and charges need to be filed for violation of forest laws.
Despite this, HMT has claimed ownership of this prime forest land and had sold without any authority almost 165 acres of land to government and private players.
It was on September 25 last; this land was inspected by Eshwar Khandre and officials and to their surprise they found it to be a dense forest hosting many birds and other species.
In fact, HMT had sought permission for denotification of 599 acres (which was in their possession) of forest land (Survey no: 1 & 2) in an Interlocutory Application to the Supreme Court.
- However, in 2020, supporting them, some top officials and senior forest officers had applied for denotification in the aftermath of submission of a report claiming that the above land had lost its forest status.
- Going further back, in 2015, a High-Level Committee was set up to look into the matter of how many state and central govt companies were holding forest lands and their status in Bengaluru.
- In 2018, a meeting held observed that HMT was still in possession of 599 acres and the forest land was being auctioned and sold off illegally to builders, private & state-owned companies.
- However, 165 acres out of 599 was illegally sold off by HMT for Rs 300 crore to private developers, builders & govt institutions.
- In a petition before SC, the land was worth Rs 14,300 crores, the PSU said.
- Now how such huge patches of forest lands were sold without denotification under the “watchful eyes” of the state govt is a mystery?
- Further, in a meeting held on 15.7.2020, under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, the forest department had been instructed to take the Advocate-General’s opinion on allocation of land to various govt organizations prior to 1980.
- The forest department was asked to submit a proposal for denotification of such forest lands for approval before the state cabinet. This was never done.
- But even before the proposal was placed before the state cabinet, an interim application was filed by HMT before the Supreme Court for denotification of 599 acres of forest land in Peenya-Jalahalli plantations.
Is there a ray of hope for recovering this forest? Well, this year, a very, very small beginning was made on 25 October when the state forest department took back “five acres” out of 599 acres in the Peenya-Jalahalli HMT Estate.
Apart from this, the Forest department has clarified that the HMT land was never denotified as non-forest land.
Meanwhile, activists add, “It is high time, the state govt takes back this verdant forest land which can become a much-needed lung space for the congested & polluted areas of north Bengaluru.”